With Rogue One coming up fast let’s take a minute to appreciate what the Star Wars franchise has so uniquely accomplished.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will mark the eighth Star Wars movie to date not to mention the countless books, comics, animation, and video games that have surfaced since its creation in 1977 (and that one Christmas special, but let’s not talk about that). Like Star Wars many titles have survived through the years, some even nearly twice as long. But unlike Star Wars these titles have survived through reboots—they survived on recast characters and revamped story lines and the grace of better and better special effects with each passing decade. Star Wars has taken their continuation a step further by making it just that: a continuation.
No else one has quite managed this like the Star Wars films have. Marvel Studios may have built a cinematic universe bigger than anyone could have ever dreamed, but with a mere eight years under their belt they don’t have the longevity that Star Wars does. Four decades is no small feat!
Even more impressive still is the fact that they managed to bring back actors from the first films, not to play new characters, but to play their original characters, aged just like the franchise. No other title can boast the same.
Star Wars is a downright phenomenon and it has been since the day it hit theaters in 1977. Bringing in the third generation of Skywalkers—and fans—Star Wars keeps its legacy going strong.
